Saint Francis Hospital Mutolere, commonly referred to as Mutolere Hospital, is a private, non profit, community hospital owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kabale. This location lies in extreme south-western Uganda, close to the International borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and with the Republic of Rwanda. It is accredited to the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau. The hospital serves patients from within Kisoro District and from the neighbouring districts of Rukungiri, Kanungu and Kabale. A percentage of their patients come from across the borders, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Rwanda.
St. Francis hospital Mutolere, now a 210 bed capacity hospital, was established in 1957 by the Franciscan Sisters of Breda (The Netherlands) as a church based voluntary health agency under the Catholic Diocese of Kabale. The hospital was run by the founding congregation of the sisters until 1994 when its ownership was handed over to the Board of Trustees of Kabale Diocese. .
At the time it was founded, Kisoro was a county of the then Kigezi district. It is thus commendable that Dr. Bruno Rochus, a German, dedicated his life to the service of Bafumbira for nine years after a stint in the Second World War. By then, there was no telephone access. The roads were hardly passable. Thus his decision to come and serve the people of Kisoro, a place that is an exact opposite of his own birthplace, should forever be appreciated. He was later to be followed by Drs. Ruppen, Moll, Boot, Ndagijimana, Neijzen, Houghton, Eishhorn, Rodermond and Kamuzinzi in a period of two decades.
At its birth, only a dispensary and convent were built. The next 10 years saw construction of a theatre, X-ray block, main hospital building, some staff hostels, maternity unit, laundry and workshop. Today, there is in addition an OPD complex, a huge paediatric ward, medical and surgical wards, a maternity ward that has been upgraded and remodelled thanks to Mitteinender fur Uganda, a German charity organization. There is also an administration block, a new private wing, a chapel and a pharmacy. There is a training school with modern buildings donated by the people of the Kingdom of Denmark. A new girls’ dormitory is under construction and will form part of the storied buildings to grace this hospital. In brief a lot of improvements in infrastructure have occurred over the years.
